500 Years of Summer
by loving.wood
Summary: Summer Monroe, shapeshifter extraordinaire is bound to the Bennett family through witchcraft. Katherine threatens Mystic Falls and Summer finds herself forced to help. Oh and she's old, as in, 170 years old, and she had Damon before anybody else had him.
1. Prologue

**QUICK NOTE: No, I haven't read the Vampire Diaries but I've been hooked on the TV show. This story was just for fun; I haven't done much research on shape-shifters or anything so if you're going to nit-pick on the little things, don't because _I already know_**. **So enjoy the story :)**

**PS. I'm baaaack ;)  
**

**Prologue**

**A sharp pang** rang through my chest and I awoke with a start, hand gripping my left breast. I was suddenly alert through her sleepy state and I looked around her room, wondering _what the fuck was that?_ Mind racing, I scrambled out of bed and into the study to go through records of the Bennett and Monroe family.

This panging had been going on for the past two weeks and, having found that nothing _physically _was wrong with her, I brought herself to believe this was witchcraft. The pain went on throughout the night as I searched and flipped through book after book until I found what I was looking for.

_Miss Emily had told me to stay behind at the estate, far away from her and Katherine. Katherine. Chills run through me when I utter that name, let alone write it on paper. I stayed at the estate because I had no other choice - it was a simple order, no loopholes. I knew that Miss Emily was in danger of using too much witchcraft because of these pains, the draining of energy. Miss Emily needed my help and I could not be there to deliver it._

I looked up from my father's notes and my light hazel eyes focused through the dim light of the study room. I contemplated, wondering where this new Bennett witch was that needed my help. Looking outside my window, I saw the snow falling in the town of Salem, Massachusetts - the last place anyone would ever look for me - and I made up my mind. I packed up my bags and got down on all fours, bag tied securely around my chest and waist and felt my nose and mouth pulling out into a snout. My ribs cracked and my arms and legs broke off into different directions. I had an odd feeling that this Bennett wouldn't be as hard to track as one would have thought, and I headed in the direction of the town that was my home back in 1849 - Mystic Falls.

* * *

**_Mystic Falls, 1849_**

_** I **ran out of the Salvatore Estate alongside Damon and I laughed as we made our way down the hill and to the river, holding onto my hat to make sure it didn't fly away. Damon was laughing and holding onto his own hat and we fell down simultaneously, rolling down the rest of the way as was our custom. Damon rolled onto his back and I laid down with my head on his stomach, looking up at the clouds in the sunny sky._

_ "You're ten years old today, Damon," I said, a small smile on my face and Damon nodded his head, his soft blue eyes fixated on a particular cloud shaped like a dog._

_ "You're ten years old today, Summer," he said with a grin and he sat up to look down at me. I grinned back up at him and sat up as well. Damon leaned in and pressed a light kiss to my cheek, a blush rising in both of our cheeks. "Happy birthday." I couldn't help the smile and returned the kiss to his cheek._

_ "Happy birthday." I stood up and helped Damon to his feet before we trudged all the way up the hill and back to the estate. When I got there, my father, Martin, took me by the hand and told me that we needed to leave._

_ "Leave where?" I asked, confused, and when I received no response, I, too, fell silent. I was brought back to my house and sat in front of a woman of dark skin._

_ "Your name is Summer?" the woman asked and I could only nod her head. The woman uttered some words and I could feel this warm glow expanding inside of me, from my head to my feet and I gasped softly, standing up and backing away from her._

_ "What did you do?" Martin demanded and the dark skinned woman stood up._

_ "Summer, my name is Emily Bennett and I am a witch. The Monroe family has forever been in the Bennett family's debt and so, you have been chosen as the family protector." _

_ "You fool, I haven't -" Martin started but was silenced with a stony stare from Emily._

_ "You, Summer, are a shape-shifter. You just have to find your heart-animal in order to be able to transform and you may shift freely." Emily knelt down in front of I to force the girl to look at her and said, "I, I had to curse you," she said softly. "You are going to live an extremely long life, but this is necessary. _You _are necessary. You are going to be 10 years old for the next 10 years, and 11 for the next 11 and so on and so forth. You are going to remember the Bennett family and your family is indebted to promise that whenever we need help, you will come running. When your father dies, you will take his place as the family protector. With your prolonged age, you are going to have to move out of Mystic Falls and live as a nomad, never belonging in one place for too long."_

_ I didn't understand, but the witch was gone before I could even ask any questions._

_ I never got to say goodbye to Damon._

_

* * *

_

**The **tawny bobcat took off into the night, hugging the forest edge to not seem out of place. I lifted my nose up into the air and looked around, finding my bearings, and I dashed through the trees, knowing that I had a long night ahead of me.

* * *

**Damon **had a drinking issue. Not a problem, it was just... a little issue, no big deal or anything. Whenever Damon drank huge loads of alcohol, it was just common knowledge to know that he was thinking one of three things: Katherine, Elena or Summer.

Ah, Summer. That little girl with eyes like the sun and a laugh that could elicit a smile from even the stoniest of men. Damon scoffed and he downed another bit of bourbon before pouring himself another glass on the rocks. Stefan walked into the house, looking more broody than ever and Damon threw his arms up in the air.

"Brother! Drink with me!" he exclaimed, an arm ending up around Stefan's shoulder.

* * *

**I **whisked by the old Salvatore Estate in hopes I could find shelter there, or a place to rest. When I found nothing but ruins, I continued on, searching through the forest for other known properties. I came across the Lockwood Estate and felt bile rising through her bobcat throat. The Lockwood family. I had learned that the Lockwoods were jealous of the Monroes and their ability to turn willingly. The death of a Monroe - my great-grand father - had sparked a blood feud that still ran through my veins to this day. If there were any Lockwoods around Mystic Falls, well. They certainly wouldn't be around for much longer if I got carried away with my animal. Bobcats weren't known to stalk large prey, but I wasn't just a normal bobcat.

I knew that the Lockwoods had the underground chamber that they changed in - something I had read in my father's journals - so I decided that, bad blood aside, I would be safe in there.

Once in the stony solitude, I changed back into my normal self and took off the bag I had wrapped around my waist, changing into warm clothes. I curled up on the stone floor and drifted off to sleep.

You would too, if you had been running for a day straight.

* * *

**Tyler **wrenched the door open and he took a step back when he saw a girl curled up on the floor in the fetal position, snoring away and he looked around, alarmed. He looked up at the sky and saw the full moon starting to show. His adrenaline started pumping and he ran over to the girl, shaking her and hoping that his presence would scare her.

"Hey. Hey, lady, you gotta wake up," he said, giving her a shake and Summer woke up, jumping to her feet. When they made eye contact, something triggered inside the both of them and their eyes changed colors to a yellowy-brown. She pushed Tyler roughly against the wall with a force that should have crushed a normal person. Tyler retaliated and Summer leapt back, jumping off of the wall and she tackled him.

"Who are you?" she demanded, one hand around his neck, the other holding his arms down. She looked up when a blonde girl walked in through the door and she jumped off of Tyler, grabbed her things and bolted.

Tyler sat up, his eyes returned to their normal state and he looked at Caroline, completely bewildered.

"What the fuck just happened?"

* * *

**I **ran and my heart began hammering against my chest again, the pain getting so strong that it brought me to my knees and I groaned, grabbing a handful of dirt, hoping it would subside soon. It was difficult to breathe and I furrowed her eyebrows, thinking about anything to keep my mind off of the searing pain. _That boy must have been a Lockwood_. I shook my head. If he was in the chamber, then he had already changed and I had no chance against a Lycan. Not with my animal form being a bobcat, anyway.

I felt a presence above me and I looked up with a gasp, falling onto my butt with a quiet 'ow'.

"Hey, are you okay?" the man asked as he crouched down next to me, a kind smile on his face and I backed away from him suspiciously.

"I - yeah. I was just, I'm new here," I said, settling on that, "and I got lost. I'm trying to find someone with the last name Bennett?" The man's lip twitched like he had a tic and he appeared to be thinking about it.

"Bennett, huh? I'm not fully acquainted with her," he said, "but I'm a teacher at the high school. Maybe if you come by tomorrow...?"

"Summer," I interjected. "Summer Monroe." The man smiled and held his hand out for me to take.

"Alaric Saltzman. You can find me in the history department." He lifted me up to my feet and he looked around the forest. "You might wanna head home. It's getting dark and you never know what's lurking around in the forest at night," he said, raising an eyebrow and I nodded my head.

"Sure. See ya, Mr. Saltzman," I said and took off in a light run. I decided that I would portray a student, despite the fact that I was about 170 years old and looked to be around 20. It would probably be the best way to get to the Bennett witch.

* * *

**Sometimes** it wasn't even fair for me to be a shape-shifter. I mean, not only did I get these awesome animalistic powers, but I was able to run _really _fast. Maybe not as fast as a vampire and I could be seen with the human eye, but I was definitely faster than your average person. I had the power to manipulate, much like a vampire, not to mention that I _did _have witch blood running through my family. My powers were limited, though - I could never really count as a real witch. It took almost a century for me to figure out that I had the power to control the element of fire.

I ended up manipulating the principal. Yeah, it was a cheap shot but I had no records of schooling - everything said that I had already graduated or was attending university. I quickly picked up my schedule with a bright smile and left, pushing my light brown hair away from my face. Ah, high school. I really didn't miss it at-fucking-all.

I stepped into my first class, history with that Alaric dude, and gave him a small smile when I walked in through the door, a little late.

"Oh - class, this is Summer... Monroe, was it? And she'll be joining us for the remainder of the year," he said, nodding to me, and I lifted a hand up to give a bit of a wave. Out of the corner of my eye, a boy sat up straighter and was looking at me and I glanced back at him, raising an eyebrow before sitting down behind him. His gaze followed me until I was behind him and I sat down, clearing my throat. The girl beside him looked at me, then back at him and took out her phone. Yeah. High school.

History was always so boring because, well. I _lived _through it all, didn't I? It was hard to come across a subject that I didn't know at least half about because I had been around for 170 years. Pretty sure I fell asleep, actually. The guy in front of me tapped me on the shoulder as class was dismissed and I woke with a start, jumping back slightly, startling him and he jumped back.

"Oh - sorry. Summer, right?" he asked, tilting his head to the side and I nodded my head, rubbing my back which hit the back of the chair strangely.

"Yeah, I'm Summer. Who are you?" I asked curiously, thinking he looked vaguely familiar, but maybe I had seen him walking around the town the previous night. He straightened up and he gave me this smile like he knew something I didn't.

"I'm Stefan," he said, reaching over to take my hand and I quickly shook it, looking at the girl that was clearly his girlfriend. I did a double take when I saw her and my mind shot back to those pictures my dad had left behind for me. Katarina Petrova, Katherine Pierce. I stared at her, eyebrows furrowed and Stefan looked up at Saltzman, who locked the door and I quickly let go of Stefan's hand and backed up into the corner of the room.

"What is this?" I demanded, expecting a million vampires to appear in the room and Stefan only shook his head, walking towards me.

"Summer," he said sharply, reaching out and I grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back and shoving him into the wall.

"Who are you?" I added pressure onto his arm, hearing it start to crack and Stefan gasped, face pressed against the wall.

"I'm Stefan Salvatore!" he exclaimed, bringing himself to push me roughly, toppling over several desks. I got up to my feet, staring at him. No fucking way.

"How - _what_?" I asked, not sure that I had heard right and I took a step closer to him cautiously, searching his face. "You're - _what_?"

"Stefan Salvatore," he repeated, rolling his arm to get the kinks out. "You grew up with my brother, Summer. Damon?" His name caught me off-guard and my features softened for a few seconds up until I began to question how he was still alive.

"What are you?" I asked slowly, looking at him carefully as I maneuvered my way around the room and Alaric reached under his desk. Stefan looked back at me.

"What are _you_?" he replied and I tilted my head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

"Pretty sure I asked first."

"Pretty sure that's a childish rule. Answer me before Rick over there puts a stake through your heart, vampire or not." I looked at Alaric and then I looked to the girl in the room.

"Clearly she's the bad vamp in the room, why not stake her?" I asked, which apparently caught _everyone _off-guard and Stefan looked back to Rick, who was looking at the chick and I threw my hands up in the air. "Way too much staring, not enough talking. God, it's like I'm stuck in a fucking Twilight movie."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

**I** spent the entire day with Stefan and the girl I soon came to know as Elena Gilbert. The two of them filled me in on everything, from Katherine not really being dead, to her return to Mystic Falls, to Klaus and Elijah's sudden interest in Elena, the doppelganger. That poor, human girl. At the end of the day, figuring that we'd been shooting the shit enough, I finally turned to Stefan.

"Stef, I need to find someone. Somebody who has the last name Bennett," I said urgently, feeling another pang in my chest coming and Stefan and Elena exchanged looks with each other. "I -" I began and ended in a sigh, rolling my eyes. "Okay, so. Let's talk, away from everybody else."

We ended up back at the Salvatore Boarding House and Stefan poured me a drink while Elena sat down beside me, ready to listen to my tales of woe and whatnot.

"I'm a shape-shifter. I... have a certain animal that I can turn in to at any given time, when I want, whenever I want." I looked around, making sure Elena and Stefan were both paying attention before continuing to speak. "Normally, shape-shifters have the same lifespan as a human and a Lycan - werewolf - but Emily Bennett put this... curse on me. Not really a curse, just a super extended lifespan and the only thing that can kill me is a silver bullet laced with wolfsbane. Granted, that probably won't ever happen, so I'm probably not gonna be dying any time soon - or, y'know, you can always rip my heart out but it's sort of hard to catch me off-guard. _Anyway_, when I was 10, she put this curse on me. I wouldn't turn 11 until 10 years were up, and then I wouldn't turn 12 until 11 years after that was up. And so on, and so forth, so here I am today, still looking _really _young with knowledge that even the oldest human alive today doesn't have. It sorta sucks, but hey, now I've got you, right?" I asked with a bright smile and took a sip of my wine while Elena and Stefan continued to stare and exchange looks.

"You're a shape-shifter," Stefan said, as if he needed to hear it from himself in order to understand it. I nodded my head slowly. "And... you can't die unless your heart is ripped out of your chest."

"Or if somebody shoots me with a silver bullet laced with wolfsbane," I added, and he put a hand up.

"Where have you even been all these years?" he asked, eyebrows looking especially furrowy and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, y'know. Here and there, living off of the land. I spent a decade as my animal form once. _Never _doing that again, that was the most intense thing I've ever done. I can't even look at a rat without thinking _awesome, dinner!_ and it's disgusting."

* * *

** Damon **burst into the house in another one of his drunken stupors. Yeah, it was about four in the afternoon. Sure, he had just spent three hours at the bar. Yeah. He had blood all over his face. Nope, he did not care one bit.

"Stefan! Stef - Stefa - Stefan," he called out as he made his way down to the basement to the cooler. He ripped open a packet of blood and sloppily drank his way through it before making his way up the stairs again and Stefan rushed to the top to help his brother up.

"Damon - what the fuck are you doing?" he asked, lifting his arm over his shoulder and heaving him to his feet. He reached up and wiped the blood away from Damon's face and Damon gave a lilting laugh, eyebrows raising as he attempted to regain his balance.

"Oh, y'know. I was - I was just _thinking_, that, eternity isn't so bad - y'know, when you have lots and lots of company, except I don't really have company, y'know? But, that's alright, cos I've got blood and I've got alcohol and that's _all _that I'll ever need..." Stefan rolled his eyes at Damon's drunk ramblings and set him on the couch before Elena got up and made sure he was okay. Stefan turned to Summer and shrugged his shoulders.

"And, Miss Monroe, I present to you, Damon Salvatore."

* * *

I looked at the dark, blood-covered thing laying on the couch with his mouth half open and I took a few steps closer, raising an eyebrow as I took a glance at his face.

"Uh huh, that's Damon," I confirmed and I gave the guy a little poke to the side before sitting down at the edge of the couch, nudging him. "Hey. Heeey, drunky," I called and he turned away from me, probably not realizing who I was.

"Le'me alone," he mumbled into a cushion and Elena and Stefan exchanged amused glances. I stood up and couldn't help the soft laugh that bubbled up past my lips, rolling my eyes.

"Yes, sir. Let's relocate so the big guy can get some rest," I suggested and Stefan brought me out back into the yard with Elena trailing behind us. "So, this Bennett witch - do you guys know her?" I asked, and Elena nodded her head.

"Yeah. Bonnie. She's one of my best friends," she said, tilting her head to the side and I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it seems to me that all of this is really weird and déjà vu-like," I said, sitting down in the snow as I looked up at the flakes falling from the sky.

"What... what d'you mean?" Elena asked and I laughed again, looking up at her and patting the snow beside me for her to sit.

"I've seen pictures and I've read my father's journals. You look like Katherine. You have the Salvatore brothers, just like Katherine. You have a Bennett witch, just like Katherine. Now, you've got a Monroe shape-shifter to do the Bennett's dirty work... just like Katherine," I said, shrugging my shoulders. "It really can't be just... pure coincidence. I'm here for a reason." I kicked at the snow for a few minutes and then I laid down, comfortable in the below-0 weather. "I just have to figure out _why _I'm here."

* * *

Damon's eyes flickered open and he sat up slowly, dried blood caked around his mouth and on his clothes.

"It's fucking Prada," he mumbled to nobody but himself and he shed his clothes and went up to his room to change. Fucking. Prada. He set it to the side for the next laundry day, whatever century _that _was going to be in, and he pulled on some jeans, a white t-shirt and his leather jacket. "Stefan?" he called out, looking around the house in search for his brother. He drank some blood from the cooler to get rid of his pounding headache before his ears twitched, hearing laughter coming from the backyard. He finished up the blood, cleaned himself up and hurried out the back through the snow. "Stef," he said, reaching for his brother but he stopped when he saw Elena and a girl sitting together, talking.

"Damon," Stefan replied, looking at him curiously. "What's up?"

"I - Well, I was - at - I was at the bar, and there was - I'm sorry, I can't concentrate with two hot girls frolicking in the snow like that," he said, tilting his head to the side and Stefan turned around to see Summer and Elena doing... well, exactly that. Frolicking in the snow. The two brothers stood side by side, arms crossed over their chests as they observed and enjoyed before going back to business. "Okay, so I was at the bar which you probably already know and probably disapprove of, but it sucks for you, because I'm older and I never listen to you anyway. So, I was -"

"You were at the bar - go on, Damon," Stefan cut in, bored of his story already.

"Right, I was at the bar and there was this guy, this random dude that's been walking around and asking people if they knew Mason Lockwood," Damon said, raising an eyebrow. Of course, Mason Lockwood had long been dead. Damon's fault, his bad, oops. "Jules didn't say if there were other werewolves coming around to look for him. Who knows how many more there might be out there?" he asked, raising an eyebrow and Stefan nodded his head.

"Well, we'll talk to Rick tonight, alright?" The two of them nodded their heads in accordance and Damon looked back to Elena with the girl. For a second, Stefan thought that maybe he recognized her, but Damon turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"If they track snow into the house, I'll kill 'em," he said before walking back through the doors, closing it behind him.

* * *

**I** threw the last snowball at Elena, happy to be around _people _at last and laughed before returning to the Salvatore house. Stefan was waiting and held up a finger to keep us from going inside.

"Damon said he'd kill you two if you tracked snow inside, and you should _never _take something like that so lightly when it comes out of Damon's mouth, so, shoes off," Stefan said, shrugging his shoulders and I raised an eyebrow, but didn't argue.

"What's Damon like these days?" I found myself asking, looking off down one of the hallways curiously and Stefan and Elena exchanged glances _again_.

"He's... kind of," Stefan started, then he made a face and looked to Elena for her to try to describe him.

"He's a little... he's..." Elena trailed off and they both drew blank faces and looked back to me.

"He's a dick?" I tried, eyebrows raising.

"...Yeeeah," they both said at the same time, looking back to me with scrunched up noses. "He's a pretty cruel guy," Stefan admitted with a bit of a shrug. "But... he's got good intentions, for the most part."

"Some of the part. Not really the most part," Elena corrected, and then Damon's face popped up around the corner.

"Really, guys? I'm _right _here." He walked towards me and I looked up at him. I knew that he'd be handsome - he was quite the looker for a 10 year old, really - and I smiled up at him.

"Ah, the second Salvatore," I said with a raise of an eyebrow and Damon winked at me.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure of having such beautiful company?" he asked as he took my hand and kissed the top of it. I took my arm back before giving him a little bit of a push. I walked around him and turned around as I continued backwards, shrugging my shoulders.

"I figured it was about time I visited my oldest friend ever. I mean, it's almost our birthday, y'know? We have to roll down that hill, lay down in the grass and stare at stuff for hours," I said, and the expression on his face was exactly what I was expecting. His lips parted as he made a motion to speak, but he couldn't form a proper sentence. He settled for silence and he looked at me a little more closely, eyebrows knitting together.

"...Summer?"

* * *

**I** gave Damon a small smile and a shrug of my shoulders while Stefan tugged Elena out of the lounge and up the stairs to give us some privacy.

"Hello, Damon," I said and he didn't react for a while. He just stared at me, looking for similarities and I did the same. Finally, when he was sure that it really was me, he let his guard down and he wrapped me up in a bone-breaking hug. I laughed and slid my arms around him, burying my face against his chest.

"Summer," he repeated with a soft laugh and he pulled away from me to look at me properly, pushing my hair away from my face. A smile stretched over his face and he took a couple steps back. He opened his mouth to speak but I beat him to it, shaking my head.

"I - it's a long story. I'm a shape-shifter, I was cursed with long life, yadda yadda, Stefan can fill you in on that stuff," I said and I sat down. Damon took a seat beside me and looked at me curiously.

"Why did you leave?" he asked after a few minutes of silence and I gave him another small smile, shrugging my shoulders.

"On our 10th birthday, I met Emily Bennett. You're familiar with Emily, right?" I asked and Damon grimaced, nodding his head. "I live longer than any normal human. I've been 20 for the past 9 years, Damon. And I'm gonna be 20 for the next 11," I said with a bit of a smile. "I mean, sure, it's nice. I'm the ultimate cougar. But I kinda missed you. When you were 20, I was just turning 11."

Damon pulled a face at that and he raised an eyebrow, looking out the window.

"...Well, that's a little... weird," he said, pursing his lips before standing up. "You could've came back."

"No, I couldn't have," I said, standing up with him. "Besides, it's not like you tried to look for me either!"

"Why would I? I thought you just completely left me! It was the worst birthday of my entire life, you think I _didn't _think about you after that? I thought about you every damn day -"

"Until Katherine came along?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms. "Yeah, don't worry. I know all about Katherine. My dad wrote about her to me while I was in Salem with my grandmother. And I've gotta say, how _stupid _do you have to be -"

I shouldn't have said that. Damon turned and grabbed my arm, throwing me against the wall and he pinned me, fangs dangerously close to my neck.

"You can't leave for a century and come back and just think everything'll be the same," he hissed and I wrenched myself out of his grip, turning into my animal form quickly. Damon lunged at me and I leapt out of the way before growling and hissing, slamming him against the wall.

* * *

Stefan and Elena heard several crashes sounding from the lounge and they hurried down the stairs to the study, finding Damon and a wildcat wrestling around on the ground. Damon was surprisingly losing. Stefan grabbed the bobcat and threw it to the side and went to pick Damon up, but Damon had already began to chase after the cat.

"Damon!" Stefan shouted sharply, chasing after him while Elena stood in the middle of the study, completely helpless.

Damon charged at the bobcat in a fit of rage, just running after it _because _he was so mad. Finally, he trapped the cat in a corner and tightened his hand around its throat. As Stefan came down the stairs to the basement, the bobcat began to transform into Summer.

Correction, the bobcat began to transform into Naked Summer.

* * *

**I** couldn't breathe. Damon's hand was cutting out any oxygen and I had no choice but to change back into a human in hopes that seeing me would bring him back to his senses. My form straightened out, though I was still lifted up off the ground by my neck and the tawny fur disappeared until al that was left was a long, flowing wave of auburn hair.

"D - Damon," I gasped out and Stefan finally pulled him off of me. I covered myself as I curled up in that corner, probably looking pathetic and Damon changed back to his normal self, leaning back against the wall as Stefan helped me to my feet, putting his shirt onto me. I coughed up blood and spat at Damon before making my way back up the stairs, feeling my ribs popping back into place. That was the weirdest feeling ever. "You're right," I decided once I could speak properly and Elena gasped, helping up the rest of the way and covering my bottom half with a blanket.

"About what?" she asked and I coughed again, tasting that coppery metallic blood again, spitting off to the side.

"He's a fucking dick, that's what." I pushed the two of them away and grabbed my clothes off of the floor, changing in the bathroom, too pissed off to be embarrassed. But I could hear Elena and Stefan's conversation.

"I think Damon's finally met his match," Elena said, an amused lift to her voice and I could hear Stefan's laugh.

"I don't know if this town can handle two Damons," he said, "but maybe he'll learn from his mistakes this time around."

"Learn from his mistakes?" Elena scoffed and I couldn't help but grin at that. Damon always sucked at learning from his mistakes. "Damon doesn't learn from his mistakes. He makes the world adapt to them."

Once Damon cooled off a little, I heard him going up the stairs from the basement and I walked down the stairs, basically meeting him once we both hit the main floor. He looked at me and gave me this look like he wanted to just... push me off a cliff while eating me alive. _Yeah it was intense. _I broke the eye contact and we walked away from each other.

"Oh, and Damon?" Stefan called out from the basement and I turned my head to see Damon freeze mid-step, turning himself to look down the stairs. "She probably has nowhere else to go, so... I'm offering our house as her house." I looked at Damon's reaction and smirked at him, shrugging my shoulders when he met my gaze.

"We'll be prancing around in the sunshine before you know it, D," I said, walking by him and patting him on the shoulder.

"I have never hated you more than I do at this very moment," he said dryly but hey, at least he didn't crush my throat, or anything.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: With the new episodes coming up, obviously my fic won't be accurate in accordance with them besides the werewolves coming for Tyler. Rose's death has already happened.**

**THANK YOU TO: the anonymous reviewers! thank you so much! as well as BELLESLVTR1867 and BLOODY MIDNIGHT.

* * *

**

**Chapter Two**

**Stefan** set up a room on the other side of the house for me to settle down in and I dropped my bag by the bed, thanking him with a smile before closing the door behind him. I sighed, plopping down on my new bed and played with the hem of the comforter before going through my bag. I put all my cash in one drawer and my clothes in the others along with my make-up. As I sorted through my underwear and lingerie, I felt another presence in the room and I turned around to see Damon hovering by the doorframe.

"Ooh, pink. That'd look cute on you," he said with a smirk and I rolled my eyes as I folded up the nightie and set it to the side of one of the drawers.

"Go away, Damon. I'm still a little _choked _that you tried to strangle me," I said dryly and Damon clasped his hands together, letting out a fake laugh.

"Oh, good! The Animorph has a sense of humor!" he exclaimed and I gave him a look. Really? Animorph?

"...You read fifth-grader novels? That's the best you could come up with?" I asked after a few moments of silence and Damon gave me this look before turning on his heel.

"Don't make me mad, Summer. I'll rip your jugular out of your throat," he said, looking over his shoulder at me with a wink and I rolled my eyes. Stefan appeared again and he handed me a towel.

"You've got your own bathroom and tomorrow we'll introduce you to Bonnie. She'll be able to seal your room from any ..._unwanted _company," he added, nodding his head back to tell me he meant his brother and I shrugged my shoulders.

"I can hold my own, but thanks. What's his deal, anyway? You'd think he'd be a little bit happier to see me," I said with a frown, finishing my folding and once all my panties were in the drawer, I shut it closed. Stefan sighed and he lingered at my doorway, rubbing his forehead with a hand.

"Damon's kind of different from when you last knew him. You were his best friend, you know? And you left which gave him this feeling of... abandonment, I guess you can say. And then everything with Katherine happened and I guess the guy's just got a pretty battered soul. But... I have hope," Stefan said, tilting his head to the side. "He might not seem human at times, but... Damon's still in there somewhere."

"Well shit," I scoffed, "I certainly hope so." Stefan just smiled and bade me goodnight.

* * *

**The **next morning, Stefan gave me a detailed list of the who's and what's of Mystic Falls.

"So this is the list of people that are safe. You can talk to them about anything going on, and I mean _anything_," Stefan said and I studied the list, nodding my head.

"Okay, but... I'm telling you right now, you keep that Lockwood kid away from me or I'll rip off his head," I warned and Stefan gave me a quizzical look. "I -" I sighed, really getting bored of telling these people my life story. "The Monroes and the Lockwoods have a blood feud. And with Tyler being a changed werewolf, it could get messy and dangerous. I'd like to avoid him and being marked at all costs," I said, and Stefan simply nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah, sure, what's a little blood and gore in this town? C'mon, little minx, let's get you to see the witch," Damon said, giving me this _look_ that I just _hated _and I sighed, looking at Stefan.

"You're letting me be alone with him, even after the results of yesterday's encounter?"

Stefan grinned and said, "today is a new day, Miss Monroe."

* * *

**Damon **gave Summer his best 'no-I-won't-kill-you-but-push-me-and-I'll-consider-it' smile and he opened the front door.

"After you, ma'am," he said, dripping with sarcasm and Summer shoved her shoulder into him, pushing him away as she walked through the door. The two of them climbed into Damon's camaro and he drove her to Bonnie's house, playing his music loudly to avoid any unwanted conversation.

"So," Summer said, speaking over the music and Damon only reached over to turn it up, raising an eyebrow at her.

"This is my favorite song, so. Shutting up would be appreciated," he said and Summer rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest.

"It's fucking Tchaikovsky. You _hate_ Tchaikovsky... _I _fucking hate Tchaikovsky," she muttered under her breath and Damon couldn't help the quirk of a smile that showed through his stony exterior. After a few moments of separate brooding, he finally turned the volume down and Summer turned her attention back to him with a bright smile.

"So! Damon, my love, how have you been?" she asked, reaching over and patting his hand on the steering wheel. Damon's hand twitched and he cocked an eyebrow, turning his gaze to her.

"Are you looking for a general response to the 170 years, or _lately_?" he questioned and Summer rolled her eyes. Damon smirked. "Oh, y'know. I've been okay, destroying myself, wreaking havoc, killing the innocent." He shrugged his shoulders, glancing to see if she had any kind of reaction. Nope. He brought his attention back to the road. "How about you?" Summer sighed and leaned back, as if she had a long story to tell.

"Oh, y'know. I've been okay, destroying myself, wreaking havoc," she joked, then she shook her head. "I've been staying under the radar. Moving every couple years when people notice I don't age. I think we can relate to that, at least, right?" she asked, looking at Damon and Damon parked the car in front of Bonnie's house, looking back at her.

"I don't think there's anything relatable between us, actually," he said, climbing out of the car and shutting the door behind him. Summer huffed and stayed in the car for a few more seconds before following him out.

* * *

**Seriously?** What a dick. He tries to kill me, continues to act like a complete douchebag while I'm doing my best to just... _talk_ and now he has the nerve to just brush me off completely? What the _hell_?

"Summer," Damon called, trying to get my attention and I was snapped back to reality, a surprised look on my face before I replaced it with my usual snide expression that I decided I'd save for Damon at moments such as these.

"Yeah, I'm coming," I snapped, walking up the porch and Damon chuckled to himself before ringing the doorbell. A dark-skinned teenager with an awkwardly crooked jaw opened the door. No, really, what was up with that _jaw_?

"Damon," she said, clearly less than pleased and I liked her already, completely forgetting about her weird jaw. "To what do I owe the... pleasure." Damon grinned and he opened his arms to her.

"Bonniiieee! How great to see you, I've been fantastic, how about you?"

"Damon, if you don't tell me why you're here in _five seconds _I will -"

"No need to get hostile. I have a present for you," Damon said, holding his hands up before gesturing to me. "You rang, she answered. You two can go bond now." He went back to his car. Just like that.

"I, uh," I said, turning to look at the girl and I tilted my head to the side, closing my eyes as I ran an introduction through my head. Opening my eyes, Bonnie was still looking at me like I was going to eat her and I laughed softly, slightly embarrassed. "Hi, I'm Summer," I said, reaching over and shaking her hand. She hesitantly took it. "Bonnie Bennett?"

"That's... me," she said, glancing back to Damon in the car, and then to her door frame.

"I'm not a vampire," I said quickly, proving it to her by sticking my hand through the doorway and her expression softened a bit. "I'm... well. Do you have any of your ancestors' journals around by any chance? That'd make it easier, probably."

* * *

_** Martin Monroe** sacrificed himself to save me. He joined his mind, body and soul with mine in order to seal that tomb carrying the 27 vampires and he did not wake up. His daughter currently resides in Salem, Massachusetts, training in the art of shape shifting and she is now eleven years old - or, twenty-five. She is still too young for me to ask of her assistance and so, I know that I am going to die. I can only hope that the linking spell will not fail and that she will remember the Bennett family and her duty to aid my children and theirs in their time of need. For now, she will train and move and never belong to one society. It was necessary._

_**Emily Bennett 1864**

* * *

_

**"It was necessary..."** Bonnie finished reading and she looked up at me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Hi, I'm Summer Monroe and apparently, I don't belong here nor there nor anywhere." I gave her a thumbs up and she just sort of sat back and took this in.

"So... what - why are you here?" she asked me and I shrugged my shoulders again, pulling my light brown hair up into a ponytail.

"I was kind of hoping you could tell me. What happened approximately 4 days ago?" I asked curiously, looking up at her and she looked up to the ceiling as she thought.

"Rose," she murmured, furrowing her eyebrows and I looked up to her.

"Sorry?"

"Rose," she repeated, "Damon's friend Rose died. Maybe you were feeling my distress. But you would have felt my danger before, like when I was re-sealing the tomb with Grams or when I was with Luka -"

"Who's Luka?" I interrupted and she looked at me.

"He's just... he's a warlock," Bonnie said quickly, "one of my friends."

"Did you borrow or channel him at some point?" I asked and she gave me a strange look.

"...Yeah, I did..." I nodded my head.

"That's why it didn't affect me. You had Luka and your grandmother at the times you would have needed to borrow strength or magic from me. Trust me, I've read through all this crap for 160 years." Bonnie smiled at me and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Honestly, all of this is still so new to me. It's good to have somebody around here who can relate to me or at least knows a bit of what I'm doing," she said, reaching over and touching my hand. Her expression grew blank and I could feel a tingle go through me until she let go, her arm snapping back.

"What?" I asked, alarmed as Bonnie shot up to her feet and shook her head, looking down at me.

"You - I saw a village," she gasped and I set my jaw, walking up to her and holding her by her shoulders, making her sit on the bed.

"You didn't see anything," I whispered to her, watching as her pupils dilated and she blinked a few times when I let her go. "I'll see you at school tomorrow, Bonnie. I'm enrolled at the high school," I said, giving her my best smile before leaving her room. "It was really nice to meet you."

* * *

**Damon **waited in the car, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel before he decided to eavesdrop. He sat down on the grass underneath Bonnie's bedroom window, humming to himself until he found something interesting to listen in on.

"You - I saw a village," he heard Bonnie say, a hint of caution in her voice and Damon couldn't help but roll onto his knees to peek through the blinds.

"You didn't see anything," he heard Summer say and he watched as her eyes focused on Bonnie's. He sat back down on the grass, listening to her footsteps move to the living room and he bolted back into the car, poking his head out of the window when Summer got out of the house.

"About time," Damon said, feigning impatience and Summer slid into the seat beside him, closing the door and buckling her seatbelt.

"Shut up."


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm changing her animal to a cougar just because bobcats aren't exactly _fighters_. And she'll prove to be more useful and more powerful as a cougar, anyway since. y'know. they're kind of huge.**

**Thanks for the reviews!

* * *

**

**Chapter Three**

_** The **__cougar roamed the forest with the vampire trailing behind her and she came to a sudden stop, turning around and pinning Damon. He hit the forest floor with a grunt and looked up into the yellow-brown eyes of the cat on top of him._

_ "Well, that was rude," he said, raising an eyebrow, and Summer let him go with a growl before stalking off into the dark. Damon stood up, looking around and wondering what Summer was doing out this late at night, because while he did stuff like that, everybody else just... slept._

_ "Summer," he called out, chasing after her and he found himself pinned to a tree this time. "You know, this is really starting to turn me on a little." He could've sworn that he could see a smirk form on the cougar's face and he watched as she turned back into a human. Well, those cracks and the sound of bones shifting definitely was not a turn on, but naked Summer in front of him definitely was. Summer turned into Rose._

_ "I am going to kill you," she said in a sickly sweet voice, "if you keep following me around like this." She let a finger trail up Damon's chin before she took off, running while turning back into Summer and her animal form.

* * *

_

**Damon** woke up with a start and he spun around to get his bearings. When he found himself on his bed, he sank back down against the cushions and sighed, covering his face with a hand for a few seconds to think.

He had cared immensely about Rose. Rose _understood _him and he understood her - they were both two vampires running from attachment and emotion. When he lost Rose, it almost felt like he had lost Summer all over again. Almost. But with Summer walking around _his _town and _his _house, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of resentment towards her. She thought she knew him? She thought nothing had changed while they had been apart? She knew nothing. She was just as naive as she was back in 1849. Rose, Rose, Rose... Summer, Summer, Summer...

Damon sat up as he heard the creaking of someone walking down the hallway and he turned his head to the door.

"Summer?" he asked, squinting his eyes and Summer opened the door slightly, giving him a smile.

"Yeah. Hey, Damon." She made her way into the room and observed her surroundings, touching books on shelves until she got to a chair, where she sat. "I..." she started, then she glanced at the door and closed it, wanting their conversation to be private and free of anger for once.

"What're you doing here?" Damon asked as he slid himself to the edge of the bed, across from Summer and the freckled girl shrugged her shoulders.

"I dunno. I couldn't sleep and was hoping you were up and maybe you wanted to talk a bit," she said and she smiled. Damon turned his eyes away from her and onto his bed sheets as he thought about something to say to her.

"Yeah, okay," he finally said and he patted the spot on the bed beside him once he scooted back all the way against the headboard. Summer joined him up onto the bed, a good distance separating them and she fell silent as she looked around the room again.

"I couldn't come back," she said again, looking to Damon and the vampire let out a soft laugh, shaking his head. "I mean it. I would have if I was allowed to but, people would have recognized me. You would have been pretty freaked out to see 11-year-old me while you were 20 or 25, admit it."

"I would have, but then again, I was sort of infatuated with a _vampire_," he said, giving me a look. "Believe me, I would've been able to deal with _weird_." He reached for a glass on his bedside table and filled it a quarter way with blood and bourbon, taking a sip. "I went looking for you, you know. When I turned. It was one of the first things I did."

* * *

**I **looked at Damon in surprise and I pulled my knees up to my chest, bringing my gaze back down to his sheets and I cleared my throat.

"Where did you look?" I asked and Damon shook his head, shrugging his shoulders.

"I don't know, I went state to state for a year or so, just... looking for you. Asking people if they knew someone named Summer Monroe." I could feel him looking at me, so I brought my attention back up to him.

"I was in Salem," I said, nodding my head, "being a, uh. A shape-shifter in 'training'." I used my fingers as quotations. "When I first started turning, I would lose control."

"Is that what Bonnie saw?" he asked and I shot a look at him.

"What're you talking about?" I asked and he shrugged his shoulders, scrunching up his nose.

"So I eavesdropped on you two a little bit. I didn't know shape-shifters could compel, too, by the way. Looks to me like you've got a little _secret_," Damon said with a smirk and a raise of an eyebrow.

"You little _shit_. Bonding time is _over_," I said as I made to get off his bed and he grabbed my arm, tugging me back down before pinning me to the mattress.

"Bonding time is over when I say it's over. What did Bonnie see?" Damon demanded and I struggled against him, but his grip around my wrists tightened to the point where they felt like they were going to break. "Why are you _here_, Summer?" he shouted and I finally heard a crack, feeling one of my wrists give out. I cried out and Damon let go, almost surprised at himself. I gave him a push with my good hand and he went flying off of the bed and the door burst open as Stefan broke in.

"Damon, what did you _do_?" he asked as he ran to my side and I let him look at my wrist. Damon popped up from the side of the bed and he looked at the two of us. His concerned expression changed to such disgust that I almost felt like melting away into the floorboards.

"Go ahead, baby brother," he said meanly, his eyebrows furrowing together as he smirked. "Why don't you just go ahead and take her, too? Turn her against the big, bad Damon?" He broke his window open and jumped out and Stefan ran to it to see where he was going. I pulled myself off of the bed and onto my feet and hurried down the stairs to get some ice. I counted to three before snapping my wrist back into place, biting on my bottom lip and Stefan came to me, filling a baggie up with ice.

"Are you okay?" he asked and I looked up at him, taking the ice from him.

"I don't think Damon's in there anymore," I said, pressing the bag to my wrist and he frowned, looking at me.

"He's there," he called after me as I walked off to my room. "I promise, Summer, he's still there."

* * *

**Damon **smashed a bottle of scotch against a car and swayed a bit as he walked down the street, letting out a large burp. A light flickered on in a nearby house and Caroline Forbes stuck her head out the window, staring at the drunk vampire.

"What happened now?" she asked in a bored voice, propping her chin up on her hand and Damon looked up at the blonde, throwing his hands up in the air in drunken bewilderment.

"Oh, Caroline, you better stay away from me!" he said loudly and sarcastically, using a very animated face. "Because, y'know. You might end up dead or hey, maybe you'll just _leave _me and maybe after that I'll just turn into some _asshole _that doesn't give a shit about _anything _and - better yet! Maybe you'll end up stuck in a fucking _tomb_ or maybe you'll just... fall for my ugly younger brother-"

Caroline leapt out of her window and ran to Damon, pressing her hand over his mouth.

"My mom just woke up, don't be stupid," she hissed and Damon pushed her away, arms out in front of him as the living room light turned on. Caroline grabbed at Damon's arm, only to get pushed away again and she had no choice but to jump back into her room.

"Sheriff Forbes!" Damon exclaimed as Liz opened the door and she held out her gun.

"Damon, what are you doing here?" she asked, looking around the street cautiously and Damon stopped in front of her.

"I found a vampire, Liz," he said, tilting his head to the side and Liz reached for her cartridge of wooden bullets, loading her gun with it and cocking it.

"Where?" she demanded, walking out towards him and Damon smirked and said softly,

"Right here."

* * *

**Stefan **burst into my room and I flew out of bed as he ran to my window, looking around my room.

"Stefan, what?" I asked as I stopped him in the middle of my room and he threw a jacket to me.

"Damon got shot. You can come if you want," he said and just like that, he bolted off at the speed of vampire. I pulled the jacket on and tugged on my boots before taking off after him into town, following his scent.

The blonde girl that had been with the Lockwood werewolf was talking to Stefan and she froze when she saw me entering her house. I nodded my head at her, now recognizing her as Caroline Forbes, the Sheriff's daughter and a vampire that Damon had accidentally turned. The Sheriff herself was lying down on the couch, knocked out and I looked around the living room.

"Where's Damon?" I asked and Caroline looked to Stefan before bringing her attention back to me.

"He's upstairs in the bathroom," she said and I nodded my head.

"Sure, thanks, Blondie," I said and headed up the stairs to the bathroom.

"_Blondie_?" I heard her repeat with a scoff and I opened the door, finding Damon lying in the bathtub.

"Idiot," I mumbled under my breath as I pulled the toilet seat down and sat on it, reaching over to look at his wounds. Damon's eyes opened and he looked up at me, weakly but with as much disdain as ever. He didn't speak. I reached into one of the bullet holes, seeing Damon flinch and I transformed myself enough to just let my nails grow, pulling the wooden bullet out. He groaned underneath me and tilted his head back.

"That's a little creepy, Freckles," he murmured lazily and I set the bullet down on the counter, looking up at him with a raised eyebrow.

"Freckles," I repeated, and Damon just smirked and nodded his head, closing his eyes and preparing himself as I took out the next bullet.


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four (Damon)**

**Damon** watched the rise and fall of Summer's chest as she slept, curled up in a ball on her bed. _Summer_, he snorted to himself, _what an appropriate name_. Really, there was nothing about that girl that didn't remind him of summer; her light brown freckles that adorned her nose, that laugh of hers, those hazel eyes. Everything was just so fucking _warm _about her. He reached over and pushed her hair away from her face, tucking it behind her ears and he straightened up, glancing over his shoulder.

"Hello, Stefan."

"What are you doing?" his little brother asked, arms crossed over his chest and Damon rolled his eyes, turning to look at him with that sarcastic glare of his.

"Looking at my dinner," he said with a smirk and Stefan shook his head.

"Damon..."

"Relax, I was just making sure that she was o-..." he started, then he stopped, "that she was still here." _What the hell? _Stefan walked up to the bed and looked at her over Damon's shoulder, shrugging his own.

"Well, looks like she's perfectly fine so why don't you get some rest?"

"Stefan, I'm not gonna eat her."

"Get some rest, Damon."

The two brothers locked eyes and Stefan moved out of the way. Damon grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and dragged him out of the room, closing the door quietly behind them.

"Stef, interfere with _my _business one more time and I'll shove my hand down your throat and rip your heart out that way," he said, dangerously quiet, and he shoved Stefan against the wall before retreating back to his room, leaving a concerned and bewildered baby brother.

* * *

Summer walked down the stairs, looking all happy and refreshed and cozy in loose sweats and an oversized sweater and Damon looked up from the morning paper in the living room, raising an eyebrow.

"Morning, Sunshine," he said, and Summer patted him on the head before going to the kitchen. Damon made a face. "Don't... touch the hair," he mumbled and went back to the newspaper, then he paused. "Wait, you're kidding, right? There hasn't been any food in the kitchen since you've been here and it's been a week and a half. What makes you think that's changed?" he called after her and he stood up, following her, and he was surprised to see her actually... _cooking_.

"I did some grocery shopping," Summer said with a shrug as she heated up a pan on the stove and put a few slices of bacon on it. "I mean, I was getting so _tired _of eating out all the time -"

"Funny, that's something I _never_ get tired -"

"...That's gross, Damon. Anyway, I just... wanted a home cooked meal, that's all," she said, smiling, and Damon guessed that he couldn't really argue with that. If food meant something to him, he'd probably appreciate home cooked meals more. Well, he liked the fresh blood straight out of the arteries for sure, way better than the packaged hospital stuff. He observed silently as she placed slices of bacon on the pan and used a different one to make pancakes, then, to his confusion, after she made a dozen pancakes, she made more batter and added blood and more flour.

"What're you doing?" he asked curiously, and Summer looked over her shoulder at him.

"Well, I don't wanna eat breakfast _alone_," she laughed, turning back to the stove and Damon couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips. God, she was cute and exactly how Damon had pictured her to be. Stefan came down the stairs next and he paused in the doorway of the kitchen. Damon turned around and looked at him, who was staring at Summer, all confused. Damon shrugged and Stefan shrugged and they just watched her cook, apparently all made-up from their encounter the previous night.

When she was all done, there were pancakes, blood pancakes, bacon, sausage, maple syrup and blood syrup.

"Have you catered to vampires before, or something?" Damon found himself asking and Summer laughed, shaking her head.

"No, but it's... not that difficult. Just add blood to everything and feed 'em lots of meat, right?" She smiled at the two brothers and the front door opened. "Oh, and Jeremy and Elena are joining us, if that's cool."

"Well, do we have a choice now?" Damon asked, rolling his eyes as the two visitors walked in through the door.

"Hey! Smells great," Elena said as she greeted Summer with a hug and Summer turned her attention to Jeremy, smiling up at him.

"Hi, I'm Summer," she said, reaching over to shake his hand and Jeremy took it, nodding his head and matching her smile.

"Jeremy. I've heard a lot about you," he said eagerly and Damon raised an eyebrow.

"Right, so, breakfast," he said, taking Summer by the shoulders and bringing her to the cabinets which he opened to find completely new plates. He opened the drawers to completely new cutlery. "Stef, I feel like she's trying to interfere with the way we live. New silverware and plates? Blood-food instead of actual blood?"

Stefan laughed and he went to work, setting up the table with Elena and Jeremy hung back to talk to Summer.

"I hear that you're a shape-shifter," he said, sliding up to her and Damon kept his ears trained on them as he walked out of the kitchen carrying the plates of pancakes, then he took a seat.

"You hear correctly," he heard Summer say with an amused laugh.

"I've been doing a lot of reading on shape-shifting and, uh, and your family, actually - my best friend. Tyler? He's a Lockwood. You met him your first night here. I heard there's a way to counteract against the blood feud, but it takes a lot of self-control in order to do it," Jeremy said, "and since you're older and more experienced than him, I... think it'll only work on your part until Tyler trains himself to do it. I mean, we can go talk over it at the Grill later tonight -" Damon stood up and went back to the kitchen, interrupting Jeremy.

"Hey, c'mon, everyone's hungry," he said, staring at Jeremy and the younger boy looked back at him. "Go on, little boy." He straightened up and walked by Damon but not before wiggling his ring finger in front of his face. 

_Dick_.

Damon went to help Summer with the rest of the food and the drinks and returned to his seat, annoyed to find that instead of sitting beside Summer, he was sitting beside Jeremy.

"Punk. Move," he said, kicking at the chair and Jeremy stared up at him before rolling his eyes and shifting over.

* * *

Summer had asked Damon to pick her up from school at 3:00 and, Damon, clearly pussy whipped already, had agreed to, much to Stefan's amusement. Damon was there early to harass Alaric Saltzman, the school's full-time history teacher. He was also a full-time vampire hunter, but. One of the good ones that Damon happened to like.

"You have a spare?" he asked as he popped his head through Rick's doorway, and Alaric nodded his head, gesturing for him to come in.

"Close the door." Rick put all of the schoolwork he had to mark in his bag and closed it up before sitting on his desk. "What's up, Damon?"

"Have you done any research about this shape-shifter?" Damon asked as he slid up beside Rick, and the teacher shrugged his shoulders and scrunched up his nose.

"A little bit. She's about 19 in human years and going on 170 in ..._regular _human years. She's a cougar -" he chuckled a little, "and she was involved in raids from the years 1890 - 1920 all along the east coast."

"Raids?" Damon asked, raising an eyebrow and Alaric nodded his head, pulling a few articles from his desk that he had saved for him.

"Animal attacks in Massachusetts, New York, Maine, Connecticut, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Baltimore and in parts of Canada. They were vicious," he said, grimacing and Damon looked through them. Groups of vicious wild animals had ripped through cities and towns, leaving trails of dead. Bears, mountain lions, wildcats, birds of prey and wolves, all of them had been suspiciously organized.

"You said that Bonnie saw something that had scared her? A village?" Alaric asked and Damon nodded his head, reading through one of the articles. Rick nodded his head and tapped the bunch of paper that the vampire held. "I guarantee you it was one of these raids. D'you think she's a danger to the town?"

Damon scoffed and raised an eyebrow at Rick as he rolled up the paper and held it in a hand like a scroll. "You really think I'm the guy to ask that?" He shook his head, raising a finger and wagging it. "Nuh uh. Now, if you excuse me, I've got a cougar to hunt down," he said with a smirk and Rick opened his mouth to say something to that, but Damon was already gone.

* * *

Damon walked down the hallways, pushing past kids to get back to the parking lot when all of a sudden, two students crashed into him, forcing him against the lockers.

"What the -" And he almost lost it until he saw who was scuffling around. Tyler and Summer were duking it out, shoving, pushing, slapping and punching each other and _everything _and Stefan was on his way, Damon could see.

"Damon!" Stefan shouted, unable to get through the crowd and the older vampire grabbed Summer and forced her away from Tyler, then locked Tyler's arm behind his back effortlessly, shoving the two away from each other.

"Knock it off," he said, glaring at Tyler and the students that had formed a circle let out a collective 'ooh'. Tyler started to walk away, then Summer pushed Damon off of her and went at him again. Tyler growled and sent Summer flying into the lockers.

"Damon," Stefan called out, more of a warning this time as he could see Damon getting a little more than pissed off.

"I said," he began as he kept Summer down with a foot and he shoved Tyler away, "knock it off. Before I _really _fucking hurt you, Lockwood." Summer was squirming around on the floor, trying to get away from Damon and Damon just added more weight to keep her still. "So why don't you just go ahead and... find something to _chew _on?"

Tyler wiped the blood from his nose and he pointed at Damon, spitting at the floor. "I'm coming after you. I'm coming after the both of you and your kid brother too, and keep Caroline the fuck away from me," he warned before he ran off, pushing past the crowd. Damon finally let Summer go for a brief second, only to get her up to her feet and he held her arm in a vice grip as he dragged her out of the school.

"I didn't need your help," she retorted, finally wrenching her arm away from Damon and the vampire raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, good, then. Next time you and Dances With Wolves over there get into a fight, in broad daylight, in the middle of your school hallway, I'll just sit back, get some popcorn and enjoy the show. It'll be like a Gladiator moment," Damon said, putting up a thumb and then slowly turning it into a thumbs down. "Kill the wolf! Kill the cat! It's all fun and _games _for you, isn't it?" He yanked the car door open for Summer before moving to his side of the car, climbing in, visibly grumpy now.

"Sorry," Summer mumbled under her breath as she buckled up, crossing her arms over her shoulders, and Damon rolled his eyes.

"Sure," he said, stuffing the journal articles into the glove compartment of his camaro, and they drove off back to his house. Summer was quiet for the first few minutes of the drive until she turned her head to look at Damon.

"Hey, so... I heard about Rose," she said, and Damon's ice blue eyes flickered to her before turning them back to the road.

"Oh yeah? What about her?" he asked, and Summer sighed, making herself comfortable in the seat.

"Just... that you two were really close. And that she died of a werewolf bite, and that's why you've been so..." she paused, clearly trying to think of the right word. Damon snorted softly.

"Yeah, it's not really something I like to talk about too much," he said, bringing his gaze back to her, cocking an eyebrow. "I think I liked it better when you weren't talking, and -"

"I lost someone too, Damon, okay? Don't act like you're the only one in the world that matters -"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong. I'm the only one that matters to _me _and so I have no interest in the lives of _others_. You happen to fall under the category of _other _in my life, so I don't wanna hear your sob story about your shape-shifting boyfriend that died a tragic death or whatever this story that relates to me is," Damon snapped and Summer fell silent.

"He wasn't my boyfriend," she said softly, tears threatening to spill out and Damon could hear her voice quivering. He loosened his grip on the steering wheel and he turned to look at Summer, immediately regretting being such a douchebag. "I, well. He was my best friend after I left Mystic Falls. He died almost fifty years ago, and you know what killed him?" she asked and, when Damon didn't warrant a response, she replied anyway. "A vampire killed him. So imagine my distress and my problems with living with you and your brother while your vampire girlfriend Katherine - who, by the way, killed my best friend Joshua those fifty years ago, funny how this all works out - is in this town, underground, locked away and suffering from thirst. I _will _get Bonnie to lift that spell and I _will _kill Katherine," Summer finished, making sure Damon was listening to her.

"You're not going to lay so much as a finger on her," the vampire replied and Summer waited for him to stop at a red light, putting a hand on top of his.

"Just watch me," she said with a regrettable smile, squeezing his hand and she climbed out of the car.

Damon could feel his skin tingling underneath her touch, hours after he got home.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: ONCE AGAIN! My story has (almost) nothing to do with the upcoming Vampire Diaries episodes (season 2). Also guys, if you can find the time to, reviews would be great. I know a lot of people are following my story but reviews will always help keep me going!**

**Chapter Five**

I wasn't dumb enough to go to the tomb alone. I ended up just going back home, which would have been ten times easier if I had just ridden with Damon, but I knew that the car ride wouldn't have ended well. One of us would probably have a broken arm again.

"Welcome back, princess," Damon said without looking up from some papers and it wasn't until I put my bag down that he glanced up and gave me a shit-eating smile. I tilted my head to the side with an exasperated sigh and lifted my arms up briefly, rolling my eyes.

"What?" I asked and Damon waved the papers in the air.

"Oh, y'know, just doing some brushing up on research and history," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He tossed them at me and stood up to make himself a drink, and I glanced at the pages, letting it sink in for a few seconds.

"Where'd you get these?" I demanded, holding them up and Damon only smirked and shrugged.

"Friend of mine. Why, does it concern you in any way? Maybe I'm just interested in odd behavior in wild animals." I threw the papers on the table and walked over to Damon, a finger pointed at him and Damon backed away quickly, holding his hand out in front of him as if that would stop me. "Jeeze, minx, calm down!" he exclaimed, pushing me away from him. "I just happened to find something in common with us, you should be happy. We're both psychotic, not-so-natural born killers!"

I rolled my eyes and stepped away from Damon, shooting him a look. "Don't you dare bring that up with anyone else. And you tell your friend to keep their mouth shut." I turned around and poured myself a drink as Damon walked up to me, apparently not done with pissing me off.

"I don't know, he might put you in detention, or something, being your teacher and all," he said with a grin and I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Seriously? God, I hate you," I mumbled, taking a sip and the front door opened as Stefan, Caroline, Bonnie and Elena walked in. "And their entrance just saved your life, vampire," I said with a wink. I snapped my fingers and the papers caught on fire on the table before turning around to leave.

"Okay, sweetheart, you have fun with the girls now!" Damon called after me and I brushed by Stefan, completely seething.

* * *

"I told her to have fun with the girls. Why aren't you joining them?" Damon asked Stefan sarcastically and Stefan gave his brother a fake smile and a laugh before resuming his straight face, pouring himself a drink.

"What'd you do to piss her off this time?" he asked and Damon shrugged his shoulders, waiting for the flames to die off on the table before he brushed the ashes off.

"Oh, you know, exist," he said, raising an eyebrow and Stefan gave an actual smile for that one, shaking his head and taking a sip. "No, I just made some interesting discoveries about her, that's all. I'll tell you about it sometime," Damon said with a wink and he started up the stairs to go up to his room.

* * *

"What'd he do to piss you off this time?" Caroline asked me and I shrugged my shoulders.

"Oh, you know, exist," I said with a roll of my eyes and she and Bonnie laughed. Elena just kind of gave me a look.

"He means well, you know," she said as she shook up some nail polish to do Bonnie's nails. I shook my head and finished off the drink I had made downstairs and I set the empty glass on the bedside table.

"Not all the time. Sometimes he's just plain cruel," I said, scrunching up my nose. "You've just never been on the opposite end of it, sweetheart. At least he had a ring on, right? He has broken at least three of my bones since I've gotten here over petty arguments. He turned Caroline into a vampire. He tried to kill Bonnie. Has he thrown you into shelves or walls? Has he ever bitten you, Elena? Maybe you'll realize you're the only thing that ever matters to him anymore."

"That is _not _true," a voice came from the door and I glanced at Damon, giving him a look. Damon raised an eyebrow, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the doorframe, looking back at me. He opened his mouth to speak. "I mean, I almost killed her brother, so it's not exactly fair to say that I've never been cruel to her," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "You can say that I've never been cruel to her directly." Then he left again. Caroline and Bonnie looked at me and Elena tilted her head to the side, observing me.

"You care about him," she said, almost astonished and I was taken aback, my eyes getting wide.

"_What_?" I asked, my arms uncrossing and my hands flying to my hips in a defensive stance. "No, why would I?"

"Because he's your oldest friend?" Caroline tried, piping up and I raised an eyebrow at her.

"He's not the Damon I knew 160 years ago."

"I highly doubt you're the Summer he knew 160 years ago," Elena pointed out and I gave her a look. "Look, Damon's... he's _special_. He can be a total asshole one minute and a total sweetheart the next -"

"I've yet to see the sweetheart side of him, but since you see it so often, maybe you should do something about that," I said dryly.

"That's not fair," Elena said, shaking her head after a moment of intense silence and I shrugged my shoulders.

"It's not fair for you to keep him stringing him along like a puppy on a leash." I pushed off of the dresser with my foot and left Stefan's room, closing the door behind me before heading over to Damon's room, seeing him sprawled on his bed, reading a book.

"And you _knew _you could hear every single word," he said without turning over onto his back and I sighed.

"It's not fair," I repeated, closing his door behind me now and I sat down on his bed, pushing at his arm until he rolled over, then I laid down beside him, looking at him. Damon met my eyes briefly before he closed them resting his head on the pillow.

"We have an extremely bi-polar relationship, Ms. Monroe."

"And you have an extremely one-sided relationship with Ms. Gilbert," I retorted and Damon just opened his eyes, smirked and tilted his head to the side, furrowing his eyebrows together in something that could only be described as manic glee.

"Does this bother you, Ms. Monroe?" he questioned and I let out a laugh, rolling my eyes.

"In your dreams, Mr. Salvatore."

"When you're a complete bitch to me, it really gets me going," he said, nodding his head and I rolled over on top of him, pinning his arms above his head as I straddled his hips.

"Well, then, I'm sorry to blue ball you, but I've got some homework to do," I said with a wink and a smirk before letting him go and he grabbed my arm, tugging me underneath him as we switched positions.

"Cock tease," he whispered in my ear before pushing himself off the bed, that _smirk _on his _face _again, and he left before I could.

Seriously, what a _dick_.


End file.
